4 ms·

What would prevent someone from lining their shopping bag with metal to shield the RF?

noodlesUK 3y ago
Nothing, the same as current self-checkout systems. You can already easily just put stuff in your pocket or ring expensive items up as incorrect, cheaper things. I suspect shops have done a risk analysis and decided that they'd prefer to have more shoplifting and fewer staff.
- kube-system 3y ago
  I doubt the relationship between the rate of shoplifting and ease of shoplifting is anywhere close to linear. Even before self-checkouts existed, people still shoplifted. And in some places, the honor system even works much of the time.
  - noodlesUK 3y ago
    > I doubt the relationship between the rate of shoplifting and ease of shoplifting is anywhere close to linear. I'm sure you're right. I suspect that there are massive variations from shop location to shop location, even within a region. I also suspect there are different kinds of shoplifting. I remember hearing a friend who is not the kind of person to just pocket an item and leave, bragging about ringing up protein powder from a bulk dispenser as flour to save money. That kind of behaviour is definitely going to be hard to model.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      There's a number of people who openly admit to "self checkout discounts" as part of the "payment" for doing the work for the store.
- Salgat 3y ago
  At least in Walmart I've had workers come over to me multiple times to verify I correctly scanned things. There's definitely more scrutiny involved when you have a centralized self-checkout (this only happens in the more sketchy Walmart, the nicer one seems to trust people more).
  - bombcar 3y ago
    It's entirely a sketchy/nice dichotomy (though the local nice grocery store is tuned too damn high, I avoid that one).
- I_AM_A_SMURF 3y ago
  > You can already easily just put stuff in your pocket or ring expensive items up as incorrect, cheaper things This is actually already somewhat solved. The other day I was at a Safeway and one carton of milk had an unreadable label so I scanned a different carton and put the unreadable one in the bag instead (same product). The system showed me a video of me doing that, highlighting the fact that I didn't put the item I scanned on the bag (!) and asked me to wait for an assistant. Pretty impressive.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    They've gotten a bit more advanced, but that can be bypassed too, you just need to know where the cameras are. Or shop somewhere where they have all that turned off.

Nothing, the same as current self-checkout systems. You can already easily just put stuff in your pocket or ring expensive items up as incorrect, cheaper things. I suspect shops have done a risk analysis and decided that they'd prefer to have more shoplifting and fewer staff.

kube-system 3y ago
I doubt the relationship between the rate of shoplifting and ease of shoplifting is anywhere close to linear. Even before self-checkouts existed, people still shoplifted. And in some places, the honor system even works much of the time.
- noodlesUK 3y ago
  > I doubt the relationship between the rate of shoplifting and ease of shoplifting is anywhere close to linear. I'm sure you're right. I suspect that there are massive variations from shop location to shop location, even within a region. I also suspect there are different kinds of shoplifting. I remember hearing a friend who is not the kind of person to just pocket an item and leave, bragging about ringing up protein powder from a bulk dispenser as flour to save money. That kind of behaviour is definitely going to be hard to model.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    There's a number of people who openly admit to "self checkout discounts" as part of the "payment" for doing the work for the store.
Salgat 3y ago
At least in Walmart I've had workers come over to me multiple times to verify I correctly scanned things. There's definitely more scrutiny involved when you have a centralized self-checkout (this only happens in the more sketchy Walmart, the nicer one seems to trust people more).
- bombcar 3y ago
  It's entirely a sketchy/nice dichotomy (though the local nice grocery store is tuned too damn high, I avoid that one).
I_AM_A_SMURF 3y ago
> You can already easily just put stuff in your pocket or ring expensive items up as incorrect, cheaper things This is actually already somewhat solved. The other day I was at a Safeway and one carton of milk had an unreadable label so I scanned a different carton and put the unreadable one in the bag instead (same product). The system showed me a video of me doing that, highlighting the fact that I didn't put the item I scanned on the bag (!) and asked me to wait for an assistant. Pretty impressive.
- bombcar 3y ago
  They've gotten a bit more advanced, but that can be bypassed too, you just need to know where the cameras are. Or shop somewhere where they have all that turned off.